


The Brown (or Common) Rat

by Halrloprillalar (prillalar)



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-06-10 03:46:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6938413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prillalar/pseuds/Halrloprillalar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Care and feeding of.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Brown (or Common) Rat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kestrelsan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kestrelsan/gifts).



The door bangs closed. Akaya's bag thumps onto the floor. "I'm here."

Renji doesn't turn around. "Hello," he says, and keeps typing up his blog entry. He doesn't have to look to see Akaya crossing the room, touching Renji's things, face flickering between a scowl and a grin.

"What's in the cage?" There's a rattle of bars and a rustle of paper shreds.

"A rat," Renji says. He crops a photo and colour-corrects it. Single pixel black border, floated right on the page. "Don't let it out."

"What's his name?"

" _Rattus norvegicus._ "

"That's a stupid name." There's another rattle. Akaya must be crouched in front of the cage, his long fingers curling around the wire and his quick eyes following any movement.

"It's the scientific name. A brown rat."

"It's white, not brown." Akaya's up again, moving over behind Renji's chair.

"Himalayan colouring."

"Yanagi-san..." Akaya grabs the back of Renji's collar and pulls. His nails scrape over Renji's neck. "Stop working."

Renji types two more sentences and hits post before he spins the chair around.

Akaya climbs on, straddling Renji's lap. His mouth smashes into Renji's, his fingers twist Renji's hair. Renji picks him up, hands under his ass, and dumps them both onto the bed.

They roll together, hitting the wall and bouncing back. Nobody's home, so Renji lets Akaya make some noise, lets them both lose their shirts.

The rat scuffles in the cage. Renji grabs Akaya through his pants. Akaya bites Renji on the shoulder.

"You have bed hair," Akaya says, when they're done.

"You should get home." Renji reaches for his comb.

When Akaya is gone, Renji takes the rat out of the cage. He lies back on the bed with the rat on his chest.

They both fall asleep.

+

Akaya circles the clubhouse, poking bags, shoving boys, his orbit decaying so he drifts closer to where Renji and Genichirou are talking.

"Stop loitering," Genichirou snaps.

Akaya rolls his eyes. He stops. He looks at Renji.

"Go home," Renji says.

"I'm not doing anything." Akaya frowns. His shirt is bunched up, a sliver of skin showing at his waist.

"We're busy." Renji looks away, back to Genichirou. He's frowning too. Sometimes Renji thinks you'd only have to flip one bit in Genichirou and he would _be_ Akaya.

"I'll take him." Jackal loops an arm around Akaya's neck and pulls him squawking out the door.

But when Renji finally leaves, Akaya is waiting just around the corner. "Come on," he says, and digs his fingers into Renji's arm.

Renji hands him the keys to the storage shed. "I'll be along," he says, and counts five minutes on his watch before he follows.

He barely has the door closed before Akaya almost knocks the breath out of him. Renji is jammed against a shelf, the metal pressing a cold line into his back. He lets Akaya suck his mouth, rake his chest, pull him down to the dusty floor and hump him until they're both gasping.

Renji closes his eyes.

"Stay awake," Akaya says and shoves him.

"I get sleepy," Renji says.

"Did you think of a name yet?"

"For what?" Renji blinks and yawns.

"Your rat!" Akaya shoves him again. "He needs a real name."

"Why?" Renji says.

+

Renji shades his eyes from the sun. Perspiration collects under the strap of his bag, along his hairline, at the small of his back. He's just getting out his phone when Akaya finally sprints up.

"Do you want to play a match?" Renji asks.

Akaya swipes his arm across his forehead. His hair is curling and sticking to his face. "Not yet." He grins and holds Renji's eyes.

More sweat springs up on Renji's neck and even on the palms of his hands. He puts away the phone before it slides out of his grasp. "Then I'll see you tomorrow."

Akaya grabs Renji's wrist. "Come on," he says. He pulls Renji's hand up and licks the tip of one finger.

Renji flushes, a smack of heat against his skin. He jerks his hand away. "Good-bye," he says. Akaya grabs him again. "Don't," Renji says. He walks away, yanking himself free.

"Jerk!" Akaya yells.

+

The rat scurries to the front of the cage when Renji comes in. Renji feeds it and tops up the water. He lets it out while he cleans the cage.

He sits on the floor, back against his bed. The rat noses against his arm and he scratches its back.

He's due a blog entry but he doesn't want to write it. Instead, he makes a label, 18 point Myriad Pro Black with a five pixel border: **Rattus norvegicus**. He tapes it to the bottom of the cage, where the rat can't chew on it.

Then he lies back on the bed and doesn't beat off, even though he really wants to.

+

The door bangs closed. Akaya's bag thumps onto the floor. Renji turns his chair.

Akaya's face is red. His eyes are narrowed. His shirt is half out of his waistband. His hands are balled into fists.

Renji's chest constricts, his stomach flips. The hot wave comes over him again, dragging at him. He stands up and faces Akaya. A tiny cold bead of fear drops through him, not quite evaporating in the heat. He bites his lip and waits.

Akaya stares a minute longer. Then he stalks over to the cage. "That's not a name," he says. He rips the label off and turns it over. He scrawls on the back: BEN. He tapes it back on, thirteen degrees off true.

He stays crouched there, long fingers curling through the wire. The rat sniffs at them. "You're a jerk," he says.

"Yes," Renji says.

"You shouldn't even have a rat." Akaya's shoulders rise and fall. The cage shakes a little.

"Probably not." It's a big cage, really. Room for another rat in there.

"I just came to say." Akaya stands up, slouching, looking away. He reaches for his bag.

"Akaya," Renji says. "Come here."

They both have bed hair when they're done.


End file.
